Happy Birthday Joni Mitchell!

http://suetierney.tumblr.com/post/132723848374/happy-birthday-joni-mitchell-i-am-so-glad-you

The Official Jonifest 2015 Tshirt

I have a couple of these left.  Contact me at sem8@cornell.edu if you would like one.  $20.00 plus shipping and handling.

SFJazz Day 2, Part 1: Access

I'm really dragging this out ... my last post was two weeks after the event and now here I am a month and a half out and still haven't finished my tale!  So to remind you, I'm describing my four-day journey to San Francisco May 7 - 11 to attend the fantabulous Gala Event at the SFJazz Center honoring the Great Joni Mitchell for her career and influence on jazz music.  At the time this event was scheduled, Joni Mitchell was scheduled to attend and be the guest of honor with seats at the dinner at $100,000 a plate, and tickets to the concert starting at $1,000 up to $25,000 a seat.  This is the yearly fundraiser for the Jazz Center and although lowly people like me and probably you would have to dream about being able to afford such extravagances, there are obviously A LOT of people in San Francisco who can afford such a thing.  When I heard about the event, I contacted my great friend, Les Irvin, webmaster of JoniMitchell.com to say, that if for any reason he got comp tickets to this shindig, I would like to be first on the list.  I was even willing to cough up a $1,000 for a seat in the balcony, if possible.

Well, much to the sadness of all who adore Joni, on March 31 she fell gravely ill and there was obviously no way she would be in attendance.  When the call came from Les that he indeed did get comp tickets, I thought, well even though she won't be there, I've never been to San Francisco, and I just got a nice tax return that can pay for my hotel and plane ticket.  So I started planning the trip.  I called a couple of Jonifest friends who live in the San Francisco area and we started forming a mini-fest around the event.

So after Day One of walking around the general area of Market Street, I woke on Friday, May 8 and walked down to Starbucks which was off the lobby of my hotel.  There was a long line of people, obviously on their way to work (the hotel was a couple of doors down from Twitter corporate) and I waited on line craving coffee, still trying to wake up.  All of a sudden a very tall barista ran from behind the counter and out the front door after a culprit who had just grabbed a bunch of drinks and whatever he could fit in his pockets ... the barista guy came back calling to his manager "well at least that time I got two drinks back!!" Clearly this grab and run tactic is an every day occurrence.

Twitter Corporate, Market St, San Francisco

And this brings me to a sad fact about Market Street, and many other of the streets I walked down in San Francisco.  The homeless.  My God, they were everywhere.  There was one elderly lady who I saw several times standing near the subway entrance just yelling at people as they walked by "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, please give me money, I'm hungry."  There were several people laying on the street, some with signs, one fellow who seemed blind, sitting with his dog on the curb, playing a boom box and asking for money.  A very very drunk sad woman crying with her friend who was also very drunk or high on something sitting right in front of Twitter.  Wow. I did throw some money in baskets but not much I'm sorry to say.  I found out later that San Francisco has a very liberal view of homelessness, and sleeping in the park in front of City Hall seemed to be something that people did on a regular basis.  You can find out more about this here: The Homeless of San Francisco.

City Hall, San Francisco

I got a text from Les, who had just arrived at San Francisco airport asking if he could stop at my hotel room so he could get ready for the Gala there.  Of course!  Les Irvin is another one of my best friends I met with a mutual adoration of Joni Mitchell.  Les and I go way back to the origins of JoniMitchell.com and the Joni Mitchell Discussion List in the mid-1990s.  We've attended many Jonifest gatherings in the years since then and he has graciously given our guitar and piano transcription database a home on JoniMitchell.com.  He should get all the credit for the comprehensive presence of Joni Mitchell's legacy on the internet.  Although, a more humble person you would never meet.  Case in point ... when he arrived he took his tuxedo out of his suitcase (the dress code for the event was Bohemian Black Tie) and told me that the jacket cost 99¢ at his local Goodwill.  He had brought the jacket to a menswear shop in Colorado Springs and asked one of the gentlemen there if he could get away with wearing it.  He was assured that it was a great jacket that fit him to a T and congratulated him on the great bargain!!

Les and I went to a great diner across the street from the Hotel Whitcomb and had some cheeseburger deluxes and gabbed for about an hour and a half.  Good Friends, you and me!!

Les Irvin

Les informed me that there was a good chance that we could get into the rehearsal for the SFJazz event that was starting around noon.  After lunch we walked over to the SFJazz Center and talked to a woman who was at the side entrance who escorted us to the security desk.  Les talked to the security guard and it turned out Les was on the access list.  The guard called the SFJazz PR manager, Marshall Lamm.  Marshall came right out to introduce himself and was very cordial, and happy to escort us around the facilities.  He brought us to the auditorium and the band was already out getting ready for rehearsal.  Marshall said we could sit and listen but asked us not to take pictures.  We thanked him and sat down, looked at each other and high fived!  We were in!  Not so fast, Marshall walked up again about a New York City minute later and said "I'm sorry, you have to leave right now!"  Oh well, I guess somebody was not happy with us being there.  As a consolation prize, Marshall showed us the dressing rooms, hoping we could talk to Laurie Antonioli, the jazz vocalist, who had just released a critically acclaimed collection of Joni Mitchell songs called "Songs of Shadows, Songs of Light." Joni had hand selected Laurie to perform at this event and Laurie had emailed us several times before we arrived hoping to get to meet us.  Laurie wasn't there yet so we ended up back on the street walking past the grand memorial to Joni, eventually ending up at a cappuccino bar.  It was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the Big Event!  More about the big night in Part Two!

SFJazz Joni Mitchell Tribute

Day 1: My trip to San Francisco for the SFJazz Tribute to Joni Mitchell

I apologize for the time it took me to finally sit down and write up a review of this amazing event that I traveled 3,000 miles to witness.  Since I got home on a long redeye flight after 4 days in the fabulous city of San Francisco, I've been a virtual zombie, sleepwalking through work and idly passing my time knitting and watching Netflix.  After all these many years I've finally realized that my INFP personality becomes flattened by glitterati, outlandishness, and sensory overload!  Back to my peaceful life and I have to cocoon till I get my wings back.

David Rea and Joni Mitchell

I did accomplish one thing since my trip back and that was a new chord chart for an unreleased song by Joni Mitchell called Play Little David.  This song was written for her friend, David Rea, who played guitar behind her many times while she was on the cafe circuit.  He also accompanied her in this video from the CBC television show "Mon Pays, Mes Chansons" [1966].  I think this picture is from the Mariposa Festival in 1966.  

ImagiKnits, San Francisco

So my arrival in San Francisco on Thursday, May 7th was uneventful.  I had a nice hotel on Market Street called the Hotel Whitcomb which was in walking distance of the SFJazz Center.  When I googled the Hotel Whitcomb this site came up about the ghosts that live in it, which I quickly disregarded (i ain't afraid a no ghosts ... ).  When I came to my room on the 6th floor I noticed it was at the end of a long hall near the EXIT to the staircase.  Now, I'm not sure why I immediately thought of a CSI episode where they called this type of hotel room "murder central" because of the location of the speedy exit.  I'm quickly disregarding that thought too as I watch too much TV involving autopsies!!!  I'll let you know right now that I saw no ghosts and I was not murdered (which means I am not a ghost!!)  Although I did see some sights in this neighborhood on my way to a fabulous knitting store called ImagiKnit, where I browsed heavenly for a long time and then bought about $100 worth of yarn.  I also saw the following items - 1) a sign in a beauty parlor window that said "Our haircuts get you laid!" 2) A skateboard riding German Shepherd and 3) the SFJazz Tribute to Joni Mitchell on the building across the street from the Center.  Here are some shots:

After my very long walk I got back to my hotel room and went to bed early ... after watching an episode of Bloodline (including autopsies) on my Kindle.  

More on Day 2 tomorrow. 

Don't Believe What You Read In The News

If you are a Joni Mitchell fan, I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that the news is lit up with reports of her health.  Conflicting reports put her either in a coma, or alert and recovering nicely.  Either way she has been in the hospital since March 31 and is under the care of a top neurosurgeon at UCLA Medical Center.  A Gala Celebration of her career at the San Francisco Jazz Center on May 8 (which I am attending!) announced yesterday what everyone guessed, that she will not be attending.  The bottom line is, we don't know what her diagnosis is, we don't know what the prognosis is, and we shouldn't believe 99% of the speculation in the news.  A couple of the news items say things like "she has no family" and "she started as a street singer" or my favorite one "she's the highest paid singer in the business."  Boy would she laugh heartily at that one.

So instead of talking about her illness, I would like to share with you a great speech that Joni gave at the Commonwealth Club of California on Earth Day 2005.  At the time she was promoting her compilation, The Beginning of Survival, which highlights some of her more political songs.  After hearing this speech, I ordered this disc, and have been listening to it in my car all week.  Incredibly thoughtful and piercing songs including The Three Great Stimulants, The Reoccurring Dream, The Beat of Black Wings, Lakota, and Ethiopia.  The refrain from Ethiopia is such a soul searing message on the survival of our planet:

Little garden planet
Oasis in space
Some hearts hurt
They can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gate ...

Here is a link to the speech: Joni Mitchell: Earth Day 2005

You can post messages to Joni at two sites:  WeLoveYouJoni.com and Twitter with the hashtag #ThankYouJoni, which will appear at the SFJAZZ website.  Plus you could also "send up a prayer, wondering who is there to hear ..."

Sue

Joni Mitchell Instructional Video: I Don't Know Where I Stand

This link will bring you to the video and chord sheet for IDKWIS at JoniMitchell.com:

I Don't Know Where I Stand

Joni Mitchell Instructional Video: I Don't Know Where I Stand

This is my eighth instructional video for the album Clouds.  I only have one song to finish, Tin Angel, where I will be using the tab of my good friend, Pat Hillis, from Toronto.  Pat and I corresponded early in the mid-90s about deciphering Joni's alternate tunings, but didn't get to meet in person till we attended the 2013 Luminato Festival Tribute to Joni at Massey Hall. We had so much fun that weekend, it was almost as if we had been friends forever!  I love that.

My newest video is I Don't Know Where I Stand.  This song is deceptively simple, but has a lot going on ... not only the incredible melody, but the poignant lyrics and a trumpet solo!!  I was lucky to hear an old recording of Joni from 1967 during a cafe concert where she warned the audience that this song contained a trumpet solo, as she said "just to warn you so you don't wonder, what is she doing?"

This video will be housed at the Guitar and Piano database at JoniMitchell.com soon.